Hi,
I am a first time PC builder looking for some advice on building a competent gaming machine. Games I am looking to play are Shogun Total War, Deus Ex, BFBC 3, and Skyrim. I have a decent 24" 1080 Acer monitor (Acer H243H) which I will be looking to play these on for now, so I am looking for a GPU setup that can handle that resolution at acceptable frame rates with max detail. That being said, I would like to upgrade to a dual monitor or large format, higher resolution setup later, so I would like to be able to add a second or third GPU to allow for this. I have looked around at other builds on this website and think I have assembled a decent starting point. Here it goes (with some more comments):
Case: IN WIN BUC Mid tower (will I be able to fit multiple high end GPU's in this ting?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108395
Storage: Western Digital 1TB 7200RPM 6Gb/s (I probably won't need obscene amounts of storage),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767
Optical drive: Asus 24x DVD burner (don't think I want/need blu ray), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III (Is this the ideal size for an OS and a few games?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227726
CPU: i5-2500k (I have read all over this site that the 2600k doesn't offer much more performance for gaming.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1866 (Is this more memory than I need? I feel like I might as well for the price.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 (I like the NF200 bridge allowing me to go 3SLI for the future. I know it is one of the more expensive boards, but I think it has the features to justify it.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269
CPU cooler: ZALMAN 100mm (Really no clue if this is any good.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019
PSU: Cooler Master 1000W Modular (I think I want to stick with modular just because it seems more convenient. I chose 1000 so I can upgrade in the future. Or will it be dead by the time I want to upgrade?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171049
GPU: MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition 3GB (Sure to be the most contentious point...I have seen a couple comments about 3GB cards actually hurting FPS on single monitor setups due to the additional latency. Is this true? Is one of these enough to do what I would like? Will I be able to add one or two more of these in the future given the rest of my build?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127589
I know I have asked a lot of questions, but I feel like they are all very important to allow be to reap the greatest benefit for the dollars I am about to spend. Any help is greatly appreciated. I am a total novice and am hoping all the experts out there can steer me straight.
Regards,
Brandon
I am a first time PC builder looking for some advice on building a competent gaming machine. Games I am looking to play are Shogun Total War, Deus Ex, BFBC 3, and Skyrim. I have a decent 24" 1080 Acer monitor (Acer H243H) which I will be looking to play these on for now, so I am looking for a GPU setup that can handle that resolution at acceptable frame rates with max detail. That being said, I would like to upgrade to a dual monitor or large format, higher resolution setup later, so I would like to be able to add a second or third GPU to allow for this. I have looked around at other builds on this website and think I have assembled a decent starting point. Here it goes (with some more comments):
Case: IN WIN BUC Mid tower (will I be able to fit multiple high end GPU's in this ting?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108395
Storage: Western Digital 1TB 7200RPM 6Gb/s (I probably won't need obscene amounts of storage),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767
Optical drive: Asus 24x DVD burner (don't think I want/need blu ray), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III (Is this the ideal size for an OS and a few games?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227726
CPU: i5-2500k (I have read all over this site that the 2600k doesn't offer much more performance for gaming.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1866 (Is this more memory than I need? I feel like I might as well for the price.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 (I like the NF200 bridge allowing me to go 3SLI for the future. I know it is one of the more expensive boards, but I think it has the features to justify it.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269
CPU cooler: ZALMAN 100mm (Really no clue if this is any good.),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019
PSU: Cooler Master 1000W Modular (I think I want to stick with modular just because it seems more convenient. I chose 1000 so I can upgrade in the future. Or will it be dead by the time I want to upgrade?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171049
GPU: MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition 3GB (Sure to be the most contentious point...I have seen a couple comments about 3GB cards actually hurting FPS on single monitor setups due to the additional latency. Is this true? Is one of these enough to do what I would like? Will I be able to add one or two more of these in the future given the rest of my build?),
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127589
I know I have asked a lot of questions, but I feel like they are all very important to allow be to reap the greatest benefit for the dollars I am about to spend. Any help is greatly appreciated. I am a total novice and am hoping all the experts out there can steer me straight.
Regards,
Brandon